I have a question. Someone on this list or another used the phrase: * a capitalist enterprise owned by the state * ALL incorporated capitalist enterprises ARE owned by the state. There is a management contract, called a corporate charter, between the state and the enterprise. As owner, the state specifies--and has the power to change from time to time--the share of the earnings to be recovered by the state. In the U.S., for the convenience of the state, this share of the earnings is collected by the tax collection department of the state, the Internal Revenue Service. Other nations have similar departments. Besides the original contract, the state creates voluminous documents describing how the enterprise is to be managed. Because the state owns the enterprise these ex post facto proclamations, called laws and regulations, are permitted. Unfortunately, the number of enterprises and their size and complexity are so great -- and the size and competence of the government so small -- that the enterprise managements have much freedom to act against the interest of the state and against the interest of the people. As in any owner-manager relationship, the manager tries to influence the owner to adjust the contract and the regulations for the benefit of the owner. To a large extent, the managers have been successful in this. The number of enterprises, their size, and the limited size and competence of the government favor the managers. What is needed is a simplification of the enterprises. Each should have a single purpose. Recall that the first great state-owned, chartered enterprise had a single purpose: to rule India. The owner's task is then much simpler. An example of multiple purpose is the enterprise that manages newspapers, radio stations, TV stations, news reporting, congressmen, entertainment generators, and cable TV systems. Such enterprises are difficult for the owner, the state, to control. The contract managers gain too much influence on both the owner and the public (and cream too damn much money from the top of the till.) Single-purpose management charters written by good lawyers are what is needed. The number of enterprises would be greatly increased; but each would be simple, the owner over-sight much easier. Now, the question: What is the difference between capitalism and socialism?
